The Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard provided some insight on New England Patriots<\/strong><\/a> linebacker Matthew Judon in a recent podcast at the end of last week and it’s certainly sparked some backlash.<\/p>\n Bedard reported that based on what he’s been told, the two sides continue to be at odds.\u00a0 He also said, if it isn’t resolved, Judon may not be willing to play for the team in 2024 at his current base salary of $6.5 million.\u00a0 He also adds that the same may also be true of Davon Gaudchaux, who continues to be another player with an uncertain contract future.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat I know is he may be playing nice publicly, and he has, he has said all of the right things,” said Bedard in the episode<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 “And if you want to believe him, take him at his word, go right ahead, I\u2019m not going to stop you.\u00a0 But what I can tell you is, from the people that I\u2019ve talked to, he is not going to play under his current contract, at least for the Patriots.\u00a0 I can\u2019t talk about anyplace else.”<\/p>\n “That\u2019s my understanding. I don\u2019t know exactly what\u2019s been communicated to the team, but that\u2019s my understanding.\u00a0 You could also put Davon Godchaux in that bucket.\u201d<\/p>\n With Bedard’s report garnering discussion on social media, Judon clearly heard the buzz surrounding him and opted to fire back.<\/p>\n “Before yall get on my ass, I didn\u2019t say that. At all,” wrote Judon<\/strong><\/a>. “Don\u2019t let them make me the villain.”<\/p>\n Prior to the last couple of weeks, the tenor of things felt like they were headed in the right direction.\u00a0\u00a0Judon was somewhat positive during an interview on WZLK\u2019s The Rich Schertenlieb Show<\/em> last month when fellow Boston Sports Journal writer Mike Giardi tried to test the waters of where things were at with his negotiations.\u00a0 Giardi also asked the veteran if he was going to\u00a0 \u201chold in\u201d similar to last year, which Judon did before the club eventually gave him a bump in pay.<\/p>\n Judon denied that would be the case, and that he planned on simply letting the process run its course.\u00a0 He also called potentially sitting out “trash,” which is going to make it all that more interesting to see how things play out.<\/p>\n \u201cUh, right now, I\u2019m just gonna get ready to play,\u201d\u00a0he told Giardi<\/strong><\/a>. \u201cAnd you know, you kind of don\u2019t \u2013 you kind of keep throwing tantrums, tantrums, tantrums, and then you don\u2019t come out there and do what you\u2019re supposed to do? It kind of gets old real fast, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI ain\u2019t really trying to do that. I\u2019m just trying to come out here and play football, get ready for this upcoming season, and put our defense and ourselves in a position where we can win the most games or be the most effective.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cSo that\u2019s what I\u2019m really on right now. I ain\u2019t worried about holding out, sitting out \u2026 kind of protesting. \u2026 Because that, last year, that stuff was trash. I ain\u2019t really like that. Like I\u2019m a football player, I don\u2019t want to get into the agency side. So I\u2019m gonna come out here and play some football.\u201d<\/p>\n FoxSports reporter Henry McKenna recently reported that things remain at a stalemate, and it sounds like the negotitions may have regressed. McKenna wrote on X<\/strong><\/a> that “the Patriots have made an offer,” but added, “they are not currently close to agreeing to a new deal.”<\/p>\n That contradicts what Judon said last month when he told Giardi, “We ain’t that far apart, you feel me?” in regard to his contract.<\/p>\n However, if the gap has suddenly increased, either something changed on his end in terms of what he’s now seeking, or the Patriots pulled back from where they were.\u00a0 Only they know where things are truly currently at.<\/p>\n For now, the club certainly has a tough decision to make.\u00a0 Bedard believes that giving him a bump in pay for this season does make sense, especially considering that he feels the Patriots are going to need to lean on their defense this season.<\/p>\n “So, the question gets into, ‘What do you want to do with Matthew Judon?’\u00a0 Do you want to extend him?” said Bedard.\u00a0 “Do you want to give him a short-term raise?\u00a0 Would you rather trade him to a contender or somebody who wants to pay him?\u00a0 All those options, I would think, are currently on the table for the Patriots.”<\/p>\n “Here’s where I am right now.\u00a0 I would be in favor, as of this moment, of giving him a bump – $3, $4 million for this year, something like that – to get him to around $10 [million] just because I think he’s a very good player.\u00a0 I think that Jerod Mayo’s going to want to have his defense show out.\u00a0 It’s his baby, just like it was [Bill] Belichick’s, and quite frankly, the defense is going to be the way this team competes. So why would you hurt that, at least in the near term?”<\/p>\n Bedard also went on to say that another possibility would be to move Judon late in camp should another team – potentially a contender – suffer an injury, or if they believe acquiring Judon could improve their pass rush in 2024.\u00a0 Another possibility would be if the same scenarios might hold true around the trade deadline.<\/p>\n In the event the Patriots make a tough decision and opt to move on from Judon, Bedard also suggested last month that Keion White<\/strong><\/a> may be the guy they’ll look to should they part ways with Judon<\/strong><\/a>, with the possibility of the former second-round pick out of Georgia Tech potentially ending up in the spotlight moving forward.<\/p>\n White, who saw an uptick in playing time<\/strong><\/a> after Judon got hurt in Week 4 of last season in Dallas, finished his rookie season with 26 tackles,<\/strong> <\/a>including a sack, 5 quarterback hits, and three tackles for a loss.\u00a0 He also added three passes defended.<\/p>\n The second-year edge rusher showed some tremendous athleticism during his rookie year, which was definitely one of the things that stood out last season.\u00a0 Even more impressive was White showing some unreal closing speed and explosiveness at various points, along with some incredible tenacity in what little we saw from him.<\/p>\n As a result, it should be interesting to see what he looks like after having a full NFL offseason under his belt.<\/p>\n For now, it remains a key storyline heading into training camp.\u00a0 Judon might be telling people one thing, but it’s going to be tough for him in the coming weeks should he sit out in the event the two sides remain at an impasse when camp eventually kicks off.<\/p>\n Nicole Yang of the Boston Globe stepped in for Ben Volin for the newspaper’s Sunday Notes Column<\/strong><\/a> and pointed out that there’s apparently a new documentary coming out on former Patriots tight end, Aaron Hernandez.\u00a0 She wrote that Season 1 of FX\u2019s \u201cAmerican Sports Story\u201d will be a 10-episode series reexamining the life of the troubled player, with the first two episodes set to premiere on Tuesday, Sept. 17.\u00a0 The new series is based on the in-depth podcast from the newspaper’s \u201cGladiator: Aaron Hernandez and Football Inc.<\/strong><\/a>\u201d … Mike Reiss had a bit in his Sunday notes column<\/strong><\/a> on rookie tight end Jaheim Bell, who is another intriguing player to follow heading into training camp.\u00a0 Reiss spoke with Senior Bowl executive director Jim Nagy telling him that he’s a guy who showed tremendous versatility and compared him to San Francisco’s Deebo Samuel.\u00a0 “He is extremely versatile,” said Nagy. “This isn’t true helmet scouting, but there was some similar usage to him and what they got out of Deebo Samuel when he was [at South Carolina], just in terms of some of the slot and running back versatility. There was some fullback usage in there.”\u00a0 How he’ll compliment Hunter Henry and Austin Hooper should definitely be fun to watch. … In that same column, former Patriots safety Devin McCourty said during a recent appearance on the “Rise and Schein<\/em>” podcast<\/strong><\/a>,\u00a0 that Mayo’s biggest adjustment has just been balancing all the additional duties that come being a head coach.\u00a0 “I think the thing that’s going to be the biggest transition for him, and [where] he’ll continue to grow, is when he said, ‘The amount of stuff I do that has nothing to do with football is crazy,'” said McCourty. “I think every new head coach would tell you the same story. You don’t realize how many things Bill Belichick used to handle and do for 24 years as a head coach, and now you’re thrust into that role.” … While the rookies have some time before they report, veteran receivers KJ Osborn, Tyquan Thornton, JuJu Smith-Schuster, second-year wideout DeMario Douglas, and rookie Ja\u2019Lynn Polk, recently got some work in ahead of camp<\/strong><\/a>.\u00a0 That group caught passes with both Jacoby Brissett and Drake Maye in the workout as they continue building chemistry heading into this season.\u00a0 While there are questions about the future of Smith-Schuster and Thornton, it’s still good to see this group so determined to hopefully help this team improve an offense that finished tied at the bottom of the NFL in scoring<\/strong> <\/a>in 2023.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Boston Sports Journal’s Greg Bedard provided some insight on New England Patriots linebacker Matthew Judon in a recent podcast at the end of last week and it’s certainly sparked some backlash.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":54581,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[22505,23280,23466,23533,1026,1875,23271,22237,44,22986],"class_list":["post-54641","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patriots-news","tag-davon-godchaux","tag-demario-douglas","tag-drake-maye","tag-jalynn-polk","tag-jacoby-brissett","tag-juju-smith-schuster","tag-keion-white","tag-matthew-judon","tag-new-england-patriots","tag-tyquan-thornton"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/USATSI_19375330_168390408_lowres-660x440.jpg\")
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<\/p>\nWhat Will the Patriots Do With Judon?<\/strong><\/h3>\n
![\"Keion](\"https:\/\/www.patsfans.com\/patriots\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/USATSI_21605042_168390408_lowres-450x300.jpg\")
<\/p>\nOdds and Ends<\/strong><\/h3>\n